Why Combine Therapy and Nature?
Nature’s Medicine
-Janae Kara
Seeking healing in nature is not a new idea nor a new form of prescribed medicine as doctors throughout the ages have prescribed ‘taking outside air’ or traveling to have ‘a change in air’ to their patients since the Victorian era. There are many medical practices we shouldn’t take from the past however, this one has held up to modern scientific research. A rise in the internet dubbed ‘hot girls walks’ across social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram as well as other social media trends encouraging people to go on daily walks for their mental health, demonstrates the younger generations' interest in using nature to feel better has been building. It is easy to see how our reactions to the mental health impacts of the past two years have pushed people to seek healing and solace outside. Those who have engaged in camping and hiking excursions for years might have noticed the uptick in people buying camping equipment and an increasing number of people on the trails. Hiking, camping, ‘taking the outside air or a turn around the garden’ and ‘hot girl walks’ prove to be intergenerational fixes to a common problem of needing more time outside in the open air to improve mental and physical health.
The building science around urbanization, technology use, and rising case numbers of anxiety, depression, and suicide sparked our idea of changing the therapeutic setting from inside an office building to the outdoors in camping retreat groups. This combines the benefits of a group therapy setting where you create connections with other members, with the power of nature’s ability to heal our psyche. We began digging into research and interviews about how nature impacts our health done on a wide array of people from your everyday urbanites who claim to prefer the city life, returned combat veterans seeking a peaceful transition back home, and victims of sexual assault and trafficking looking for healing and a fresh start. The podcast hosted by Florence Williams called “The Three Day Effect” inspired us to take on our own three-day retreat journey to help guide individuals back to healing through nature. Here is Tina Crain, Co-Owner of Hilltop Wellness, to speak more about the impact nature has on our health and wellness.
When I think of an ideal vacation or place, I think of beautiful mountains like the Black Hills of South Dakota. You are surrounded by trees and beauty and can smell the clean air. Or sometimes when I am cold my ideal place is laying on a nice warm beach with the sun warming me and listening to the sound of the ocean. Just thinking about this while writing is making me calm. Being outside has always been my happy place and calming for me. When I was younger and having a rough day, I would saddle my horse and we would go for a ride out to follow the river and through the trees just enjoying each other and nature.
I have come to learn since starting the grand adventure of Hilltop Wellness that finding peace in nature is not just something I enjoy because I grew up doing it. Scientists are finding our draw toward nature may be something biological. Humans have been around for 300,000 years but cities have only recently come into existence 6,000 years ago. With only this small amount of time being urbanized, scientists believe we still find peace outside and our bodies are attuned to relaxing and enjoying nature. It is proven to help with physical health in maintaining high blood pressure and protecting against heart disease, and diabetes. Doctors have begun prescribing being out in nature to help with all of these health conditions. It has also been proven to help with mental health as well, stress anxiety, depression, and mood disorders. Being out in nature has also been shown to help with sleep, increase creativity, increase happiness, help with positive social interactions, and can help people find the meaning of life. I have experienced a few of these myself. While getting ready to start doing retreats last year, my anxiety and stress were probably at a high level and as soon as we hit the mountains, rolled the windows down, and started to smell the fresh air, almost immediately I could feel my anxiety and stress going down. By the end of the night, my anxiety and stress levels had dropped by over half. By the end of the weekend, my stress and anxiety were nonexistent.
The book The Nature Fix by Florence Williams talks about how Finland scores high on the ultimate global happiness scale survey. Some believe that it has to do with how the average Finn engages in outdoor activities 2-3 times per week. This varies from berry picking to cross country ice skating and lots of activities in between. It is believed that the reason Finland is still engaged in the outdoors is that it did not start to be urbanized until the 1960s. Some studies have shown though that their stress levels have increased within the last 10 years. Because of this, they have started to put more money into preserving forests and doing research into the benefits of nature. There is still information we do not know about how it affects the body.
Now, we as a society are learning about all of the benefits of being out in nature and how much time is recommended for people to spend in nature. In The Nature Fix, it recommends five hours a month in nature as a minimum. In Florence William’s podcast The 3 Day Effect, she finds that the most optimal amount of time is three consecutive days out in nature is best to fully reset the body. There is no set amount of how often someone should do this. I think this varies from person to person depending on their physical and mental health and overall stress level. I know personally when it is good weather, I try to spend as much time outside as possible, as well as take multiple camping trips during the summer.
One way to include nature into a daily or weekly life is to go on what is called an “Awe” walk. This is something easy to do. This is talked about in detail in the 6th episode of The 3 Day Effect. The basics are taking a walk in nature and admiring the beauty that is around you daily or multiple times a week. While looking at the beauty taking the time to stand in “awe”. This helps our brain to slow down and change our thinking from planning and impulse control to just letting it relax and be stimulated in other ways.
-Tina Crain, CPSS
Given all the information we know about the connections between our health and nature it is clear our intuition to get outside and find healing is spot on. The next time you are watching a movie with an idyllic landscape, commenting on an aspirational hiking photo, or liking a Tiktok video of people going on daily walks and you feel inclined to get outside too, follow this intuition. We know being in nature switches our nervous system over into the rest and digest pattern. This means we feel safer in these settings. When we have an increase in overall feelings of safety and well-being we can be more open to connections with ourselves, our partners, and others meaning there is more space for positive change and growth. Whether you choose to join us on a retreat this summer or whether you chose to focus on increasing your outdoor time we hope you can experience more healing and more connection outdoors.